Kim-Putnam team holds narrow lead at Zurich Classic

The American pairing of Michael Kim and Andrew Putnam leads the Zurich Classic of New Orleans at 13-under-par 131 at the halfway mark of the tournament.

Fellow Americans Kevin Kisner and Scott Brown are one stroke off the lead at 12 under for the tournament, which features an uncommon format. The first and third days of the event feature a four-ball (best ball) format, while the second and fourth rounds use the foursomes (alternate shot) format.

Kim and Putnam fired a 3 under on Friday to piggyback off of their impressive 10-under round Thursday. Kisner and Brown shot 2 under on Friday after equaling the leaders with a 10-under round on Thursday.

Two pairings are tied for third place at 11 under entering the weekend. Chad Campbell and Australian Matt Jones shot a 2 under after firing 9 under on the opening day, while Nate Lashley and Rob Oppenheim reached 11 under by shooting an 8 under on Thursday and a 3 under on Friday.

Tied for fifth at 10 under are Americans Tony Finau and Daniel Summerhays, along with Americans Cody Gribble and John Peterson.

The American pairing of Chez Reavie and Lucas Glover entered Friday tied for the lead at 12 under, but they stumbled with a plus-3 outing Friday that bumped the duo into a tie for seventh place. The Chinese pairing of Xinjun Zhang and Zecheng Dou, who also shot a 12-under 60 on Thursday, fell apart for a whopping 8-over 80 on Friday to miss the cut.

Masters champion Patrick Reed and his partner, Patrick Cantlay, are tied for 13th place at 8 under. Also at 8 under is the star pairing of England’s Justin Rose and Sweden’s Henrik Stenson.